Essays on Religion and Science: The Complete Collection
I am no stranger to controversy. It is a weak man who allows fear of other peoples' disapproval to pin his mouth shut. I've paid a steep price for it too, if my suspicion is correct that many of the whales I've lost in the past year were offended religious people.
But that comes with the territory. In a world controlled by powerful liars, whoever fights for truth is going to have a hard life. I've been stomped into the dirt, spit on and bent over the barrel for affirming truths over falsehood since middle school. A thin wallet is the least of my bruises.
I could've reacted to these experiences in a violent way. But would hurting the very people I want to help become less deceived really be constructive? Wouldn't that defeat the point? I was like them once. Abraham Lincoln said that the best way to destroy an enemy is to make him your friend.
How do you befriend somebody in a cult? Do you tolerate it, even his constant attempts to recruit you, or do try to talk him out of it? Even though the conditioning will make him fight your every attempt? There is something to be said for either approach.
Because I have seen for myself that nobody who mentally overcomes their conditioning ever wants to return to how they were before, I am convinced extrication is the right answer. I am not content to live in a world where almost everybody is in a very old, successful end of the world cult. That's a deeply perverse state of affairs, like if Amway ruled the world or something. I love mental freedom, and I love truth. That leaves only one course of action.
Since violence is off the table, because you'd only wind up injuring the host rather than the contagion, I have undertaken the development of an antidote. The contagion itself is made out of information, so the cure is as well. I have made it as concise and approachable as I know how.
What is necessary is first to illustrate the anatomy of the contagion, how it is simply designed to motivate anybody who believes it to spread it to other people, ignore any evidence to the contrary and fight anybody who tries to remove it from them. Then, to demonstrate that the supernatural claims foundational to it's premise are false.
Below you will find everything I have written to date for this purpose:
Diagram of a Memetic Virus
The Greatest Human Ever to Live
Don't Get Tricked, Bro: How to Recognize a Cult
Jesus Predicted a First Century Return Which Did Not Occur
Evolution, Creationism and Flat Earth Cosmology
Is Evolution Really Compatible with Christianity?
What Even is Evolution by Natural Selection, Anyway? A Beginner's Guide
What the Heck are 'Abiogenesis' and 'Prebiotic Evolution'?
Substance Dualism, the Creationism of the 21st Century
Is Nature Obviously the Work of an Intelligent Designer?
What Do Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Mormonism All Agree On?
What Does the Bible Say About the Shape of the Earth? Part 1
What Does the Bible Say About the Shape of the Earth? Part 2
What Does the Bible Say About the Shape of the Earth? Part 3
What Does the Bible Say About the Shape of the Earth? Part 4
What Does the Bible Say About the Shape of the Earth? Part 5
What Does the Bible Say About the Shape of the Earth? Part 6
I am probably forgetting some, and will add to the list as I remember them. Any help you guys can supply in that respect will be much appreciated.
Stay Cozy!
Yeah I've never been a fan of organized religion. A good step would be to improve the education system for example by banning religious and private schools and put more funding into the public school system. That has been proven effective in places like Finland and other nordic countries.
I've you read Fahrenheit 451 before, I think you should. Maybe it will help.
I've read it, I'm not suggesting we burn books or censor information. I believe you have a right to a good education and everyone should have access to the best education available.
Very well said @ alexbeyman not to let your mind, for any ideology or anything like it, I think you have to be free in your thoughts and do, say what you want and not come to impose a book or a person who wants you to think the same as him or as a group. I do not think what I want and I do what I want. Nobody will judge me.
It is difficult to join the enemy making you pass as a friend, because as a friend you want to impose rules that you do not agree with and because you are a friend you have to do what he wants or imposes for the simple fact that we are friends.
Here is what I believe as an Agnostic Gnostic:
-the earth is an oblate spheroid within a 15. billion-year-old universe (give or take).
-natural selection is an evolutionary fact.
-non-biological evolution is much more speculative.
-it's the worst idea ever to transfer billions of tons of C)2 from the earth to the atmosphere.
-that we live in an incredibly sophisticated simulation.
-that humans are not the only players on this earth.
-I consider my theism rational although speculative.
-I'm the least religious person one can meet!
-I have an unquenchable penchant for seeking truth and justice throughout my life and won't settle for anything that smells like B.S. This odd character trait has cost me dearly but it's been worth it.
You have my upvote for lighting up a big fat blunt, too:D
My only issue with this is that if most of reality is simulations, then the distinction is arbitrary. Just because we call the largest part of it "simulations" and the smaller part "reality" doesn't make them meaningfully different if they work according to the same rules.
Likewise, I don't know if you recall but I'm a naturalistic pantheist and think God is probably what the simulations are running on. I have what I believe to be good reasons for supposing this, but am content to fall back on atheism should I ever discover serious faults in those reasons.
It was good to read this post! Not only to get to know you, but also to get an idea of what you wrote before. I just randomly read the text:
Don't be fooled, brother: how to recognize a cult
It's really a very interesting subject you raise there. I believe that today there abound false prophets and so many religions because in man there is a need to believe. Man needs to believe in a higher power in order to feel saved and for him to "direct" his life. I believe that in the North American culture this type of sects or groups have predominated also because of the mentality, because of some roots that are difficult to pull up. I agree with you on many things! Greetings
I don't believe it is possible to say for sure whether a supreme being exists, but certain religions can be identified as descended from cults by analysis of their rules and teachings, as well as reading about how they started.
Momma always says, " Don't wrestle a pig in the mud. You probably won't win . . . And the pig likes it!"
Posted using Partiko Android
This explains a lot about you, and only you can come up with this on the steem blockchain. I think I told you am reading a book : Briefer History Of Time by Stephen Hawking, my reading group just finished reviewing it yesterday and it comes perfectly into this.
This explains a lot about how you write and you mindsets.
Concerning God, earth and creation, am still gathhering more information, but I believe in God though.
PS: Some of your words are directed to the Catholics cult, I still don't know what to say about that.
For the loss of friends, resulting in thin wallets, I've wanted to tell you this for awhile now and I think this is the best time..... There are many communities on the steem blockchain that provide upvote irrespective of what you write, discord groups too, account that you can delegate too and earn a life time of Upvote, communities you can use there tag and surely get something out of it. But you always sound like a lone ranger, no offense. Kindly look into it.
The question of whether a supreme being exists is separate from the question of whether any of the currently popular religions are true. It is a matter which has been discussed by philosophers, outside the scope of any religion, for thousands of years. I myself suspect some sort of supreme being exists, in the pantheistic sense, though I didn't always.
I tried signing up for Smartsteem but it's not working and I am unsure what I have done wrong. I'd love a list of the communities I could join for upvotes, if you are willing to share that information.
You can check up there sites. Minnowbooster and smartsteem, or better still go to there discord group and ask for ways out.
Communities that upvote are many, I'll advice you find the ones that suits you best.
@steembasicincome (you buy a share for both you and another person)
@incibot or something offers upvote too
@msp accelerator offers upvote and give return on Steem power delegated to them every week.
@qurator give Upvote for life for 4 steem
@wafrica : curations team (free) drop your link in there discord group.
@steemjet : curation team (free) drops your link in there discord group.
@minnowsuport (absolutely free) drop link in there discord group.
@curie discord group also helps to make the curators find you easily.
I hope that helps.
Something is so strange about you, how come you don't know all this, you were here before me right?
I am kind of a hermit. I only focus on writing.
In term of applications, try and use #esteem app, they provide upvote up to $1 presently, and when steem rises it can Upvote to $1.5 by just using there app. Though they take 25% of your post payout.
Also partiko and busy.org too, little Upvote though, $0.002 but you get a token for each time you use there app. Which can be monetise later. They don't take part of post payout. 😁
Delegate as little as you have to steemhunt, you will get the reward soon, trust me,
Also. Do same for clean planet, and some others, they provide reward for delegating to them, more like a passive income.
Ulog your day once too on the ulog site.
#shalom.
We certainly DO NOT agree on religious perspectives but it is always insightful reading your views. I do not like echo chambers so this is much appreciated. I won't be unfollowing anytime soon
Likewise, I have always found your comments thoughtful and insightful.
"Do you tolerate it, even his constant attempts to recruit you, or do try to talk him out of it?"
Haha I have tried both and the results vary. When I was a teenager and I was more hardcore into arguing about this type of stuff. I managed to break a Jehovah's witnesses faith by asking him to explain why he believes the things that he does but he hated me after that.
I also dated a Mormon chick for a while (she wasn't a particularly good one considering that she smoked weed and was actively dating while she was still married) and I tried to not make any issue of it but there was always a little push on her end that caused problems. She felt guilty and she thought that by trying to feed me that stuff (I think with the hope of converting me) that she was helping me. That isn't the only reason that we split up but it had a lot to do with it.
These days, I only engage when I am prompted. I had a super Christian friend when I was in school and she was always cool and never pushy so I know that there are people who don't have an interest in being like that.
Then again, at the same school I was in a group in a geology class with two fundamentalists who felt that it was good idea to try to use our forced interactions to "save" me and this Catholic girl and that did lead me to argue with them more than I normally would.
Exactly, there is no reward even if you're successful. Maybe I'm just a masochist.